Pastor Tedd Tripp of Grace Fellowship Church in Hazleton, PA, has written a book that’s sweeping the Christian community, Shepherding A Child’s Heart. His thesis is that modern, secular child rearing has followed the path of Behavioral Psychology, which is secular and humanistic (i.e., god, if She even exists, is irrelevant or is the nebulous "Ground of Our Being" in front of which no man person, or daemon, would ever have to tremble or confess sins, which are non-existent, anyway).

Behavioral Psychology says "Change the behavior, then attitude change will follow." This is opposite to Depth Psychology (Freud et al.), which says attitude change precedes behavioral change; however, Depth Psychologists cannot handle concepts of God very well, for they see Him as a projection and an interference to their priesthood. (Freud called God mankind’s projection of a father figure; Freud also had a long-time affair with his wife’s relative and probably had good reason to ignore the concept of sin.)

As Tripp says, the problem with Behavioral Psychology is that a child can learn to do the behavior for the promised rewards, without changing his heart. Katie does the dishes for allowance and for being able to go out to the movies, not because she is a member of the family and wants to help. "Ah," say the cynics, "it’s not important if she wants to help, only that she does the required behavior. Then, she’ll probably learn to want to help."

This may happen sometimes, but if one looks at modern society, one really wonders how often it does. Children need the love and protection of the family, including whatever punishment or sanctions that are needed to keep them within, or bring them back to, the "circle of the family," for once the circle is broken and children stay, or are left, outside it, everyone suffers.

One of the many hurdles modern society puts in front of the Christian family is a stigma against corporal punishment — against spanking. One main proponent of this anti-Scriptural stance is Dr. Murray Strauss, an East-coast university sociologist who wrote, among other things, a book against spanking called "Beating the Devil out of Them." (Two guesses about his feelings for orthodox Christianity.)

Tripp is a Godly spokesman for sparing the rod and spoiling the child in terms of discipline that sometimes can be corporal. In Shepherding A Child’s Heart he gives Scriptural reasons for spanking and tells how to do it in a way that brings the rebellious, wayward child back into the family circle. But this is not the half of it. Tripp gives theory and examples for helping parents become shepherds of all their children’s hearts, from infants to teenagers and beyond.

Pastor Tedd Tripp will be in both Northern California and Southern California (yes, they should be separate states) at the end of January, 1999: San Francisco, Middletown, Roseville (Sacramento), Redding, Chico, and Red Bluff, as well as Riverside. See below for the schedule. Keep checking this website periodically for updates. All California organizing (except for Riverside) is being done via Dr. Joe and this website.